JONNY!!

I saw my very first concert tonight. Summer Nights at the Pier: Jonny Lang/ Keb’ Mo.’ Out of all the concerts available at Pier 62/63, Jonny’s was the only one sold out. Not at all unbelievable. He is amazing. Absolutely amazing.

My mom and I went to down town Seattle early in the day to make sure we could get in line for the concert as soon as we saw others gathering. We ate lunch at the Bell Street Diner (I had the Charcoaled Salmon Burger again), then headed over to China Town. It was really quite of an adventure. Neither my mom nor I are very familiar with Seattle, and yet I found myself reading maps and figuring out which bus to take right along with her. It may not seem like that big of a deal, but I felt proud. I could take care of myself.

After China Town we quickly headed (I sped-walked the whole way) for the Pier and stood in line as concert goers number #21 and #22. Pretty good going if you ask me. The concert was general admission and I really, really wanted to get my $45 worth by sitting in the front row. Oh, and I did, by the way. Oh, yeah.

In line I talked to a really great family. Jazzlyn, Dakota, Josie, and Barb. Jazzlyn and Josie are twins, and Dakota is Jazzlyn’s son. Barb is the mother of the twins. Jazzlyn was reading “The Da vinci Code” and practically done with it. It made me want to get my hands on that book more than ever. I need to read that book!

The doors opened at 5:30, 90 minutes before the concert began. When everyone started standing up I was thinking to myself, and I realized I didn’t even know how to act. I didn’t even know what I was feeling. I knew I was excited, but I wasn’t exactly bouncing off the walls. I guess nothing had really sunk in just yet.

I took my seat in the front row, a few seats to the right of the center mike. Perfect for seeing Jonny. Behind me, a woman had bought a few Jonny Lang T-shirts. One of them was black and had a picture of Jonny standing with his guitar (taken from “A Long Time Coming”) with the title of the album next to him in white and red, and then all the places he has been or will go to on his world tour on the back. I really liked that one so my mom and I put together our cash and I bought one for $25. They only had size medium or larger, so I got the medium. I put on the shirt over what I was wearing. I had to give my support.

Keb’ Mo’ sang first. It was kind of hard to be excited and enthusiastic for someone you’ve never heard, especially when you know what’s coming after wards (Jonny!), but I did enjoy his part of the concert. Keb’ was entertaining with his many facial expressions and little jokes in between all of the songs. I liked some of his songs too. A lot of them were songs written to make women feel more comfortable in their own skin. “Be wild and free — you don’t have to shave your legs for me.” It was really cool when the band broke down in guitar and harmonica solos, too. There was a lot of talent on that stage.

When it was Jonny Lang’s turn I knew I was going to have to get closer to the stage. People were crowding into the space left for those wanting to dance to the music. I managed to get right up close with a window between shoulders looking straight at the center mike. This is kind of funny, but the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw Jonny on stage was, “Man, he’s skinny!” He started off with the song “A Long Time Coming,” which I thought was appropriate. Then, he sang “Get What You Give,” my favorite on his latest cd. In this song he sings along with his guitar and it sounds amazing. I love it. I can’t remember the order of much anything else, but I do remember when he sang “Irish Angel.” I screamed right before he started because I love that song. The crowd got extremely quiet and he sang his heart out. It was as if he really did lose his Irish angel.

I sang along and screamed a ton during his part of the concert. I thought I was going to lose my voice, but I didn’t. (I also thought I was going to go deaf. It was really loud with the speaker pointed right at my ear.) I couldn’t help from screaming and clapping so much because it was absolutely breath-taking to hear Jonny’s deep, raspy, velvet voice live, and to see him with his eyes closed tightly through every song, his head thrashing back and forth as he played his guitar. He was concentrating on the music hard. He just looked so passionate about it all. (Oh, and it sounded so sweet when after every song he would say one little heart-felt “Thank you” to the screaming fans.)

I made sure to dance for every song. My calves started hurting. I mean really hurting. I had the worst muscle pain, but I kept on dancing. It was a good kind of pain. When the concert was nearing an end I thought for sure that I would fall over, my legs hurt so bad. But, I managed to wabble over to my mom and walk out with her, dazzled with the experience. I didn’t want to leave.